Analyst Predicts SDNY Judge Will Discard DOJ/FCC Brief in T-Mobile/Sprint Case

A DOJ and FCC brief urging the court to allow T-Mobile/Sprint is likely headed to the “dustbin,” the same fate as DOJ’s earlier motion to disqualify states’ lead counsel, New Street Research's Blair Levin wrote in a Monday note to investors. Friday, the FCC and DOJ Antitrust Division urged deference to their conditional OKs, at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (see 1912200043). Judge Victor Marrero “is already well aware of the DOJ/FCC decisions,” and the new brief raises little new upon which he’d be likely to rely, said Levin. The filing “might have been done to help on appeal, in creating issues on which the DOJ could appeal,” he said. “If, however, the judge decides against the companies, we think he will have grounds to do so in ways that will make the odds of success for any appeal low. And if he decides to rule for the companies, it will likely be for reasons outside the DOJ/FCC filing.” Closing arguments at SDNY will be Jan. 15, with two hours per side. Parties must file post-trial findings of fact and conclusions of law by Jan. 8. That could put a ruling between mid-February and mid-March, Levin wrote.